How Vain Is All Beneath the Skies
Copyrights:
- Lyrics: David Everard Ford, 1828 (public domain)
- Music: `Desire` by Isaac Baker Woodbury, c. 1850 (public domain)
- Arrangement by OpenPsalm, 2026 and released under the CC-BY 4.0 license
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Verse 1
How vain is all beneath the skies! How transient ev'ry earthly bliss!
How slender all the fondest ties That bind us to a world like this!
How slender all the fondest ties That bind us to a world like this!
Verse 2
The evening cloud, the morning dew, The with'ring grass, the fading flow'r,
Of earthly hopes our emblems true— The glories of a passing hour.
Of earthly hopes our emblems true— The glories of a passing hour.
Verse 3
But though earth's fairest blossoms die, And all beneath the skies is vain,
There is a land whose confines lie Beyond the reach of care and pain.
There is a land whose confines lie Beyond the reach of care and pain.
Verse 4
Then let the hope of joys to come Dispel our cares and chase our fears;
If God be ours, we're trav'ling home, Though passing through a vale of tears.
If God be ours, we're trav'ling home, Though passing through a vale of tears.